Power in AC circuits: An Introduction using MULTISIM.

Background The Power dissipated in an AC circuit is given by: VIcos Where: is the phase angle between voltage (V) and current (I). For a purely resistive load, the phase angle between voltage and current is zero (they are in phase), but when capacitance or inductance is introduced, as is often the case with motors which are inductive due to the windings, the phase angle becomes non-zero and the power apparently dissipated by the load is larger than the real power actually dissipated by the load. This is possible because inductors and capacitors are devices that store, not dissipate energy so some of the electrical energy delivered to the load may be temporarily stored then returned to the source. This difference between the real power P and the apparent power S depends on the phase angle as shown in the power triangle shown below. The value QL is known as the reactive power, in this case due to the inductance, L, of the circuit. The units of apparent power are VA (volt-amps), for real power, W (Watts) and for the reactive power VAR (volt-amps reactive). The power factor for a give circuit depends on the effective value of inductance or capacitance when the circuit elements are combined and also on the frequency of the supply. The power triangle:

The circuit below shows a load powered from an AC supply. The circuit has been connected to a Wattmeter as well as current and voltage measuring instruments. Note that the Wattmeter measures voltage and current using a current coil CC, and a voltage or potential coil PC.

Using Multisim The circuit below is a simple inductive load powered from an AC supply. The circuit has been drawn in MULTISIM and simulated using the virtual instruments shown. Note that the load may be considered as a separate resistor and inductor which in practice may be properties of a single device.

Note that measuring the voltage and current using multi-meters and calculating the power gives: P = VI = 70.711V x 4.402A = 311.27W This is the apparent RMS power (S) in VA

Now modifying the circuit to use the Multisim power meter and running the simulation gives:

This would suggest that considerably less power is being dissipated by the load than the multi-meter readings indicate. Why is this? The load impedance for this circuit is given by: ZL = R + XL where XL = 2fL and = XL/R

This gives an impedance of 10+j12.56 or 1651.4 (polar form) Calculating the power factor for this circuit gives: = tan-1 XL/R = tan-1 12.566/10 = 51.4 Or, using trigonometry: = cos-1 P/S = cos-1 193.925/311.27 = 51.4 [where XL = 2fL]

We can also look at the voltage and current waveforms using the built in simulator oscilloscope. The oscilloscope cannot read current directly but we can cheat by placing a resistor in the circuit (R1). The current flowing through the resistor will create an in-phase voltage that can be viewed on the oscilloscope. Note however that if the resistor is large compared to the load resistance it will cause inaccuracies in the measurement.

Multisim circuit with Wattmeter and oscilloscope instruments connected.

Multisim Oscilloscope Trace and Wattmeter reading: The traces below show the voltage and current measured by the oscilloscope. The Wattmeter has changed slightly due to the introduction of the current sensing resistor R1 but the error is small enough to be ignored at the moment.

Voltage

Using the time difference between the cursors (which have been set to the zero crossing points of each waveform), we can see that the current waveform is delayed with respect to the voltage waveform, i.e. it is phase shifted by 155S. Note that the current is delayed (because an inductive circuit opposes a change in the current). The current waveform lags behind the voltage waveform and so this circuit has a LAGGING power factor. In fact all inductive circuits will have a lagging power factor and all Capacitive circuits will have a leading power factor. Some oscilloscopes will give a phase reading automatically, but if not, it can be calculated as follows: The supply frequency is 1000Hz so the period of the waveform is 1mS. This means that one degree of phase shift would correspond to a time of: 1ms/360 = 2.778 S/ Converting the time delay of 145S measured on the scope to degrees gives: 145S divided by 2.778S/ = 52.2 This corresponds very well with our theoretical value of the small error which may be introduced by the current sense resistor or by inaccuracies in the cursor settings. Power-factor Correction. When the voltage and current are out of phase (i.e. the power factor is less than unity) the useful power dissipated by the load is less than that delivered from the source, the rest of the power is returned to the source. This power that is transferred from source to load and back again without doing useful work is not desirable. It means that the cables connecting the source to the load must be rated to carry the additional current, and the source (usually the utility company) must be able to provide that extra current even though the consumer is not using it.

The following diagram illustrates the effect of a load with non-unity powerfactor. In this case the current lags the voltage by 90 (a purely inductive circuit) so the load dissipates no power, it is all returned to the source. In practice the load would have some resistance so the power absorbed would be greater than the power returned.

When the load is purely resistive, all the energy is dissipated in the load. This is the situation we are trying to achieve using power-factor correction even though our load may in reality be inductive/capacitive.

The above situation can be simulated using the following circuit:

In this case C1 and R1 represent a resistive/capacitive load, R2 is a current sense resistor (which provides a voltage proportional to current through the load). A1 is a multiplier circuit (found in the controls menu of Multisim). The multiplier is a circuit element that whose output is the product of the two inputs X representing the current, and Y representing the voltage. Therefore the output of the multiplier is proportional to the instantaneous power. Run the simulation and experiment with the values of R1 and C1. You should see the power curve change from all real power (pure resistance the power curve has all positive (or all negative values), to all reactive power (equal areas above and bellow the zero line), and anything in-between depending on the power factor. Because having a non-unity power-factor is not desirable (the utility has to have infrastructure to carry power that is not used and the consumer has to pay for it), Techniques have been developed to correct the power factor of a load, i.e. make it appear as close to unity as possible so that the load is equivalent to a pure resistance. Because the nature of industrial loads is normally inductive (motors, lighting ballast etc.) power-factor correction usually involves connecting large capacitors to the load to compensate for the inductance. One way to look at this is that the impedance of the load must be made purely resistive. Looking at the impedance diagram below we can see that as XC increases the angle T gets closer to 0, at a given frequency (the supply

frequency of 60Hz) a particular value of capacitance will have a capacitive reactance equal to the inductive reactance of the load and the phase shift between voltage and current will be reduced to zero.

Another way of looking at power-factor correction is that the capacitors are acting a local energy storage so that the energy that would have been returned to the source is now stored locally. The following diagrams show and inductive load with a power-factor correction capacitor added, and the Multisim simulation. The example below shows a motor connected to a 60Hz supply. To calculate the required power-factor correction capacitor the motor is transformed to an equivalent admittance to give an XC value of 8. At the supply frequency, this gives a value of 331F.

Here is the Multisim circuit: Note that the current supplied by the source is 19.503A but the motor current reads 32.502A! Where does this extra current come from? It is supplied by the capacitor.

It is important to note that this circuit is not creating additional power or current but changing the phase relationships in the circuit. The current value 32.5A corresponds to the apparent power (S), and the 19.53A from the source corresponds to the real power (P). We could draw a current triangle that corresponds to the power triangle for this circuit which should give the same angle and power factor. Power factor = cos P/S = 32.5/19.53 = 0.6 Phase angle = cos-1 0.6 = 53.13

Power and Energy. Energy is Power multiplied by time. Clearly a 100W light bulb uses more energy if left on for two hours rather than one hour. Electrical energy consumption is generally measured in kWh (kilowatt.hours) with a meter similar to those shown below. Typical power meters:

Examples of energy calculations: 100W bulb for 10 hours = 10 x 100W = 1kWh. 1 Horsepower motor running for 6 hours = 746W x 6 = 4.476kWh [note 1HP = 746W] Energy usage can also be simulated using Multisim. There is not a direct energy measurement instrument but we can construct one from basic circuit elements as shown below: Although this looks a little complex the principle is quite simple. As before the multiplier A1 gives a voltage proportional to instantaneous power. Energy is power x time, but it can also be thought of as being the area under the instantaneous power curve (which has dimensions of power on the y-axis and time on the x-axis). We can find the area using an integrator block A2. Integration is the mathematical operation of finding the area under a curve. The output of the integrator block is then scaled in block A3 to give a

voltage level that is proportional to energy usage (in kWh or whatever units we like). Multisim circuit demonstrating electrical energy measurement:

Run the simulation and observe what happens. The multi-meter XMM2 provides a reading proportional to power. The oscilloscope voltage is proportional to the energy used over time so, as we would expect, the oscilloscope voltage rises continuously. This is the equivalent of the circular disk in your home power meter spinning around and the numbers counting up.